Bryant Votes NO on Taxpayer Funding for Abortions

on
Tuesday, April 25, 2017

Springfield….Representative Terri Bryant (R-Murphysboro) spoke forcefully against a bill that would vastly expand access to elective, taxpayer-funded abortions during a more than hour-long debate on HB 40 on Tuesday. Bryant, who ultimately voted no on the measure, cited both her faith and the potential cost to the State of Illinois as her reasons for opposing the bill.

“This bill goes to the core of my faith,” Bryant said. “I believe a life begins at conception and no one has a right to take that life. The sponsors of this bill routinely introduce legislation and support bills to use Medicaid dollars to help the most vulnerable among us. The same value set that drives those votes does not square with using Medicaid dollars to terminate the lives of the weakest, most helpless, and vulnerable of those among us, the unborn.”

During questioning, the bill’s sponsor, Rep. Sara Feigenholtz (D-Chicago) admitted that the bill will expand the use of Medicaid to pay for elective abortions. The Governor’s Office of Management and Budget (GOMB) has estimated that the bill could result in an extra $60 million of Medicaid spending to cover abortions per year.

“The bill’s sponsor admitted that the bill allows women to choose abortions for any reason, during any stage of pregnancy,” Bryant said. “During my lifetime we have moved from allowing 1st trimester, to 2nd, then the 3rd trimester and now we allow partial birth abortion. HB 40 provides taxpayer funded abortion on demand and I cannot in good conscience support this attempt to expand the taxpayer’s financial burden to fund this barbaric practice.”

On Tuesday, hundreds of women descended on Springfield to march in support of equal pay for women, expanded abortion access, and a host of other issues. Bryant says she was stunned by the lack of self-awareness shown by the supporters of HB 40 and the women rallying at the Capitol today.

“I find it bewildering that on ‘Women’s Day’ here in Springfield, the Democrats from Chicago pushed a bill to vastly expand abortion access,” Bryant said. “Their failure to recognize the unfulfilled potential of the millions of female lives that have been aborted in the decades that have passed since Roe vs. Wade is a truly perverted twist on the issue equal opportunity for women.”